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Thursday, January 17, 2013

Royal Profile: Christian Louis de Massy

Christian Louis de Massy was born 17 January 1949, the only son of Princess Antoinette of Monaco, Baroness de Massy and her husband, Alexandre-Athenase Noghès. He has two sisters, Elisabeth Anne (1947) and Christine Alix (1951-1989). He is first cousins with Prince Albert II of Monaco.

Upon his birth, he was surnamed his mother's last name Grimaldi, due to the dynasty and the fact that his parents were not married at the time. When his parents married shortly before his 2nd birthday in December 1951, his uncle granted his mother the title Baroness de Massy as a wedding present. Thus, she immediately changed her children's last name from Grimaldi to de Massy. Also at the time of his birth, his uncle was unmarried and childless, and the succession laws only allowed for males to succeed the throne, so Christian's mother and father were allegedly scheming to stage a coup d'état in order to see Christian succeed his uncle. However, when his uncle married American actress Grace Kelly in April 1956, the possibility of Christian acceding the throne became remote, and even more so with the births of his cousins Princess Caroline, Prince Albert and Princess Stephanie in 1957, 1958 & 1965.

Even while his mother was alive, Christian was refered to a Baron de Massy, as a title when this is not such the case. His mother was given the title, not him. He is not entitled to it at all in any way, shape or form unless his cousin, Prince Albert decides to give him the title Baron de Massy. However, to date, that has yet to happen. Therefore, Christian is simply known as Chrisitan de Massy, who's cousin just so happens to be the sovereign prince.

Upon his uncle's 21st birthday in 1944, Christian's grandmother and mother renounced each renounced her rights to the throne in favor of Prince Rainier. This did not change until the succession laws changed in 2002, allowing Princess Antoinette and her legitimatized decedents rights to the throne among other changes to the constitution. However, in 2005, his mother, elder sister (his younger sister died of leukemia in 1989), daughter, two sons, two nephews, niece, and two great-nieces lost their succession rights with the death of Prince Rainier as they were no longer "direct and legitimate" descendants of the reigning Prince. However, if for some reason the "direct and legitimate" line should fail, Christian and his family could be selected by Monaco's National Council to ascend the throne to avoid being reverted back to France after 700+ years of being independence.

Christian was raised primarily in the small French Riviera town of Enze, just outside of Monaco. During the 1960s he was a student at Instut Le Rosey in Switzerland (where he was expelled and his uncle had previously attended) and the Downside School in the UK. He also briefly attended The University of Cambridge.

Christian's professional life has led him in multiple directions. He has held professions such as race car driver, tennis player, among other crazy professions. Presently, I *believe* he works for Monaco's transportation department, but I'm not sure doing what type of job or in what capacity.

His personal life, like that of his mother, cousins and sisters, has been very turmoil. Christian has been married 4 times, and has three children and four grandchildren. His first marriage took place in 1970, in Argentina. This marriage resulted in the birth of his 1st child, Laetizia de Massy (who is mother of his 4 grandchildren). However, in 1978, they were divorced. His daughter married Jonkheer Thomas de Brouwer, has four children and resides in Belgium. His second and third marriages were also fairly short-lived and did not result in any issue, wife #2 was Anne Michelle Lütken from 1982-1987, and wife # 3 was Julia Lakschin from 1992-1995. His last marriage, and his longest, was to Cécile Gelabale in 1996. Together with Cécile, he adopted a son, Brice Souleyman Gelabale-de Massy who was born in 1987 in Cécile native Guadeloupe and future Monégasque tennis great Antoine de Massy, who was born in January 1997.

Christian is not a regular at major family events (such as National Day), but makes appearances as enthronement, funeral (behind Princess Caroline, at the funeral of his mother) and wedding (seen here in the 3rd row second to the left on the far left of the photo) ceremonies.

2 comments:

Though it may have been difficult to find anything on Christian de Massy when this article was written a few years back, such is not the case now. Much of the information here is incorrect (Lived in Eze not Enze, wrong number of grandchildren, does not work for a transportation dept, does officially hold his title, is a diplomat with private business interests, and does frequent the National Day in Monaco, to name a few). This can now all be sourced through the Wikipedia page on Baron Christian de Massy.

Wikipedia...is NOT a reliable source for ANYTHING. NEVER trust it. EVER.FACTS:1. Titles in Monaco are not hereditary, they come as favors from the Prince. When Christin Louis's mother died in 2011, her title, Baroness de Massy reverted back to the crown. His sister Elisabeth-Anne is a Baroness through her first marriage.2. He grew up in the town of Enze, just outside Monaco's borders.3. At the time this article was written, he worked for Monaco's transportation department. He now works at Monaco's Miami embassy.4. Since I've been watching the Grimaldis (10+ years), he has only attended Monaco's national day twice-Albert's enthronement and the year after Prince Albert married.3. He has two biological children, and one he adopted that is his current wife's from a different relationship. He also has two biological grandchildren and two step-grandchildren-all from his eldest daughter.